At the centre is the deck of the 1-tonne, SUV-sized rover, while top left shows its rear. The two wheels in the bottom left are on its right side, although the rover is staying put for now as it checks that its instruments are working properly and examines its surroundings. When it does start roving, it will begin the 6.5-kilometre journey to Aeolis Mons, a 5-kilometre-high mound thought to preserve a layered history of water on the Red Planet. This will be key to piecing together whether life existed or still exists there.

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Bits of Martian gravel are visible on the deck, kicked up during the rover’s dramatic arrival. Curiosity was lowered to the Martian surface on cords unspooled from the hovering Sky Crane unit – a nail-biting autonomous manoeuvre.

The rover is designed to explore for a minimum of two years, beaming back images as it goes. The colour image below, courtesy of its mast cameras, reveals a taste of what is to come on the road to Aeolis Mons&colon; a gravelly surface that eventually gives way to a dark dune field.